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ABSTRACT
Public policies aim to promote the social good, but they do not always meet this goal. We argue that to improve policy and policy analysis, it is important to pay attention to the cumulative effect of policies on how people use their time. In this study, we looked at the effect of certain policies on sleep. Our exploratory study yielded intriguing findings on sleep in Israel in the specific policy context of a dual burden of work and caregiving. We surveyed 671 participants on the effect of work and care hours on sleep. The findings showed participants slept an average of 6.6 hours and expressed the desire to sleep one hour more. The desire to sleep more was higher than for all other uses of time and was evident in all employment categories. Part-time workers slept more than full-time workers and women, and younger people asked to sleep more than older ones. Long work hours and care hours led to lower sleep hours. Our findings suggest the need to be aware of possible ‘side effects’ in the policy design stage and are relevant to other countries with a care-work burden.
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Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank Olga Denisenko, Eyal Rabin, and Leah Borovoi for their help and advice concerning the quantitative methods. We also thank the reviewers of Policy Studies and Editor Toby S. James for their illuminating remarks concerning previous versions of this article. The study was supported by the National Insurance Institute of Israel. Dr. Lahat would like to thank the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies, Concordia University, for the time dedicated to this article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2070984)
Notes
1 Welfare regimes reflect different levels of commodification based on the relations between the state, markets, and the family (Esping-Andersen Citation1990).
2 They refer to the following regimes: liberal, social-democratic, conservative, Mediterranean, Eastern European regime, and other. “Other” includes mostly former USSR countries (Lahat and Sened Citation2020).
3 The findings were presented in a research report on the uses of time submitted to the National Insurance Institute of Israel (in Hebrew). The findings were approved for publication by the National Insurance Institute of Israel.
4 A few participants referred to a quarter of an hour and were included in the data.
5 See, for example, European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS).
6 Comparison group.
7 Based on verified questions from such surveys as European Social Survey (ESS), International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and SF-36.
8 In the study, we explored all four categories of uses of time (work, care, personal, sleep). In the article, we present the findings for sleep only.
9 Because of differences in measurement methods, it is hard to compare Israel to other countries. However, the mean hours of sleep are clearly higher elsewhere. For example, in the United States, the mean is 8.5 h (Mireku and Rodriguez Citation2021); in the United Kingdom, it is 8.06 (Lamote de Grignon Pérez et al. Citation2018); in Australia, it is 7 h (Hillman and Lack Citation2013; Adams et al. Citation2017); in Belgium, it is around 8 h on weekdays (van Tienoven, Glorieux, and Minnen Citation2014). A study exploring hours of sleep in Israel refers to the average of 6.59 h (Green, Dagan, and Haim Citation2018).
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Notes on contributors
Lihi Lahat
Lihi Lahat (Ph.D., Tel Aviv University, Israel) is a senior lecturer in the Department of Administration & Public Policy at Sapir Academic College and Affiliate Associate Professor, Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies, Concordia University, Montreal. Her papers have been published in journals such as Policy Sciences, Social Policy & Administration, International Review of Administrative Sciences, Journal of European Social Policy, Review of Public Personnel Administration and Poverty & Public Policy. Her areas of research are policymakers’ perceptions of poverty, the regulation of personal social services, trust and well-being among public sector employees, uses of time and policy, smart cities and policy and collaborative governance.
Itai Sened
Itai Sened received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 1990 and tenured at Tel Aviv University in 1995. In 1997 he moved to Washington University in St. Louis. Full Professor since 2004, he Chaired the Department of Political Science there between 2004–7. He studies comparative institutions, game theory and public policy. Upon his return to TAU, he Chaired the Department of Public Policy, founded the School of Social and Policy Studies and the Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solution to Global Challenges. Since August, 1, 2020, he is the Dean of Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University.